Page 55 of Tainted Love
My cheeks heat and I shove him away from me before I make yet another mistake with him. I climb to my feet. “Do you ever take anything seriously?”
He grabs my arm before I can leave and pulls me back down next to him. “I’m sorry.”
I level him with a glare. “You’re not. You keep messing with my emotions despite me telling you Idon’twant this.” I lower my voice and my eyes. “Ican’twant this.”
Hope sparks in his eyes, and I brace myself for what he’s about to do to me after that little slip up, but he surprises me by turning the laptop so I can see the screen and pressing play.
“Is it on?” A young Elias fills the screen. He’s about ten or eleven. Asher and Killian are behind him, the latter sitting behind a small set of drums.
“Yes,” comes an unfamiliar female voice from behind the camera. I assume it’s his twin sister, Olivia.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, doofus. I know how to work a video camera.”
Her sass makes me smile, and I settle in closer to Elias. Heplaces the laptop between us, and I watch in rapture, curious to know more about the guy sitting next to me.
“Okay.” Young Elias shoots his sister a dirty look before focusing back on the camera. “We’re Triple Threat and this is our song First Crush.”
I can’t hold in the snort of laughter that escapes me at the name of their band as they start to play. Elias shoots me a sheepish grin, but I’m focused on the screen. There’s no doubt, even at that young age, that the boys were talented.Aretalented. I smile as a young Elias and a young Asher sing about a girl who doesn’t know that she is the object of their affection.
Asher keeps his eyes steady on the camera as he sings, and I wonder if his first crush is the girl behind the camera. I’m sure Elias would love that.
The video cuts to another song, but this time the three boys are a little older—maybe thirteen or so. Elias’s voice is a little higher than it is now, and the song is a more upbeat punk rock anthem. Whoever is behind the camera has talent, the way they move around the room, zooming in on each of the boys as they play their own little solo.
Towards the end of the song, the camera is placed on a stand—whether a tripod or just a bench—and a petite, dark-haired girl steps into the frame, waving her hands in the air and jumping around to the song. She looks a lot like Attie does now.
“Is that Olivia?” I ask, smiling.
Elias stares at the screen with a complicated expression. “Yeah, that’s Oli.”
“Do you miss her?”
He shrugs, not taking his eyes off the younger version of his sister. The song ends and she jumps up and down clapping her hands. Young Elias rolls his eyes at her, but Asher and Killian both seem entranced. I hide my grin, wondering howElias would feel about letting either of his friends near his sister. I can’t imagine that happening.
Another cut, and this time the boys are not boys, they’re young men—at least sixteen or seventeen—and now there’s a darkness in Elias’s eyes that wasn’t there before, and his voice has the haunting deep sound I’m used to. His hair is longer, flopping over his forehead, and ink peeks out from under the sleeves of his T-shirt, but it isn’t yet covering his arms the way it does now. My heart aches for the despair behind the heartbreaking lyrics.
I glance over at the present-day Elias sitting rigidly next to me, noting the tightness in his jaw as he stares at the screen. Something bad clearly happened to him in that time in between. I wonder if it had anything to do with his dad leaving. My hand itches to reach over and offer him some comfort, but instead I tuck it between my legs so I don’t give into the urge.
My eyes drift back to the screen as it cuts again. This time, Wyatt is with them, and I assume this is where they went from Triple Threat to Forever Summer. They’re playing one of their earlier songs, Black Rose, and my mind goes to the black rose that Elias left on my bedside table the night we gave in to temptation. Does it mean something? I try to focus on the lyrics, but he slams the laptop shut.
“Are you okay?” I murmur, repeating his words from earlier. “Eli?—?”
“I’m fine,” he grits out, climbing to his feet and moving over to the desk. “I just wanted you to know we’ve been working toward this for years. It’s not some phase for us. We’ve been in this for the long haul and going to this fundraiser tomorrow night is huge. Darren said there will be a lot of influential people from the music world there, and if we can get our music in to the hands of the right person, this could be our big break.”
“I know that,” I say with a sigh.
Elias curses, slamming his hand on the desk as he spins around to face me. “Goddamn it, Bea. I didn’t want to feel this again. You were supposed to be …” his voice trails off and he runs his hands through his hair, tugging on the strands. “The guys need this and I know I need to put them first, so I’ll play by your fucking rules even if I don’t like them. I won’t touch you. I’ll stop. But I want you to make me a promise, too.”
“What?” I hate the way my voice shakes.
“Promise me you’ll tell your dad you don’t want to study law. It’s only been one day, and I can tell it makes you fucking miserable. Tell him you want to follow your dreams. You want to create your own fashion line, and you have the talent to do it. Don’t waste it.”
I shake my head. “I can’t.”
“You can, Duchess. You deserve it.”
“Stop. Please let it go,” I beg, climbing to my feet and stalking to the door. “I’ll go with you tomorrow, but don’t say anything about me not wanting to study law. It’s not your place. Dad and Elena will be home in a few days, and you need to respect my boundaries.” I pause before leaving. “Can I ask you something?” His heavy gaze meets mine, but he doesn’t say anything. I take his silence as permission. “Was any of this real, or was it all some kind of game to you?”
